(Hanoi) Lamp on the forehead and the calves in the water, Tran Thi Lan advances squatting in the darkness and immerses one by one his rice plants before daybreak.
It’s 3 a.m. and like countless rice farmers in the Hanoi region and northern Vietnam, Lan is forced to work night shifts as the summers get hotter and hotter.
This year, the communist country, a major exporter of rice, is one of many countries in South and Southeast Asia facing record temperatures.
“It’s so hard to plant the rice when the sun is directly on my back and the hot water from the field splashes on my face,” Lan, 47, told AFP.
During a brief respite in June, Lan had managed to plant by day.
But temperatures above 37 degrees have set in again since early July, and she has returned to night work.
“In these light conditions, it’s not guaranteed that you can plant in a really straight line,” admits Lan, as she quickly buries a few roots in a patch of soil lit by her headlamp.
Like Lan, 62-year-old farmer Nguyen Hung Phuong will now work from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and then from 3 a.m. to 9 a.m.
“With the extremely high temperatures, it is very uncomfortable and exhausting to work during the day, although of course you can see better,” says Phuong.
Working nights has made him “more productive and less distracted,” he adds.
In Nguyen Thi Hanh’s farm, night planting started a few years ago.
“Our parents didn’t have headlamps. It wasn’t as hot,” says Hanh, 56.
According to Hanh, planting at night has advantages for rice, which is sensitive to temperature extremes.
“It’s actually much better because the water is cooler and more suitable for the young plant,” says Hanh.
Hired on a daily basis by landowners, professional planters like Lan and Phuong can earn up to $40 a day, a significant sum for Vietnam.
“Planting in the dark takes a lot longer than during the day,” Lan told AFP, fearing that in a few years there won’t be anyone left to do the job.
“Young people are turning to less arduous jobs. »